First and foremost, this isn't a class balance summit. We're not bringing in these guys to talk about specific tweaks to specific classes for the current season.

We're hosting the event to candidly discuss a broad number of subjects with respect to PvP, including reward structures, battleground design, arena design, general PvP content/gameplay, future plans, and yes, we'll spend some time on class design. These guys aren't class representatives. They're highly skilled and knowledgeable players, and we want to have an open, in-person dialog with them about the game. They've spent a lot of time scrutinizing World of Warcraft's PvP content over the years, so we want to get them all in a room for a day and have some focused discussions, debates, hug-it-out sessions, and so on.

Sam Kwok from Arena Junkies and Olivia Grace from WoW Insider will be reporting on some of the info that's discussed, though given that we'll spend a good deal of time on "big picture" ideas, a lot of the information will be confidential in the short term.

Blue Posts

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Loot RNG
We realize that sometimes RNG can be frustrating. I’m just not sure how beneficial it would be for the game and its longevity, if all of a sudden RNG started being “smart” and avoiding giving out items that are either useless or redundant to players.

“Smart loot” is great for quests and lower level content, but messing around with the randomness of loot attribution in high-end content is, in my opinion, something that would only be detrimental to the game.

LFR already gives out loot that is based on spec, that’s as far as we are willing to go with “smart” RNG in such environments, also, that only happens because of the nature of that specific loot system.
From a design standpoint, it’s perfectly ok for loot not always being desirable. Rarity is exciting. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Leveling and Dungeons Too Easy?
Try to remember that, compared to a brand new MMO player, those of you who've been gamers for a while and are familiar with games in this genre are bound to find levelling content fairly straight forward.

Many people pick up WoW as their first MMO, with zero knowledge about the different classes and races, let alone talent specs, skills and attributes. They may not know some of the things you don't even think about like, as a Mage, you should pick Intellect over Strength, Spirit over Agility. They won't pick a new class and spend an hour or two looking up rotations or recommended talents, which addons to get, how to enchant, glyph, gem or reforge to get the best from their toon.

The game has to be forgiving to people like that, while still engaging for those of us who've been playing for years, and sure, that must be tricky for the devs at times. But as someone who has always enjoyed levelling new characters, I truly feel the questing nowadays is much more enjoyable than before.

We understand that for certain individuals the game may at times come across as simplistic and easy compared to X years ago. Yet as Takralus pointed out earlier, it's important to us that the overall gaming experience is welcoming and fun for newcomers.

A number of changes were intentionally aimed at breaking down the vast amount of information within WoW, into manageable chunks.

That being said we're also keen on creating games with flexibility so they can be played the way players want to. Examples of these would be the flexible raid system or monster power in Diablo. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

PvP Feedback
In regards to those of you who are raising concerns over the current amount of crowd control that is around right now, we just want to make sure that you're aware that we will be working to reduce the amount and frequency of crowd control in the next expansion, while also making diminishing returns easier to comprehend.

One thing to note though is that while we're aware that it's not enjoyable to be unable to play your character at times, we also know that it's quite frustrating to be casting a spell and then suddenly see the word "Immune" come up. We'll try to provide more information on this particular topic when we're able.

At level 70, you get Stampeding Roar. It increases movement speed by 50% for 10 seconds for you and anyone in your party on a 1 minute cooldown. It replaces Dash.
We already actually do this to some degree, but we purposefully only take it so far. Looking specifically at the Dash/Stampeding Roar example, that will actually cause players to hesitate in using Stampeding Roar for their own benefit and instead will only use it when it'd be most efficient for the entire party. Making changes like this can easily start to cause things to get overly complicated. Plus, this doesn't entirely solve the issue of action bar bloat at max level.

The Halloween season has finally arrived, and we’re ready to cut straight to the heart of the holiday. If you're dying to pick up a knife and hack, gash, slash, and jab at something, then you might be excited to hear that as of October 17, Blizzard's 2013 Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contest has officially begun! Unleash your magical axes, psi blades, chitinous claws, and other creative cutlery to carve up Blizzard-themed jack-o’-lanterns of epic awesomeness. If you’re unclear as to what epic awesomeness looks like in the flesh, you can check out last year’s winners for some inspiration.

We’ll choose five of the grandest Cucurbita to earn one (1) Diablo III: Book of Tyrael. Don’t delay; start carving right away! The eleventh annual pumpkin carving contest ends on October 29, so be sure to check out the contest page for rules and eligibility and get straight to slicing.

The HearthPwn Arena Challenge - Beta Key Giveaway
Hearthpwn has more Hearthstone beta keys to give out, so be sure to enter before 4pm EDT on Saturday, October 19, 2013 to have a chance at winning one!

Blizzcon Store Update

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

We've added some new items to the store (get a preview below) and restocked a few popular ones, including the Lil' Chen Pandaren Plush and the Lil' Murk-Eye Murloc Plush!

This year’s BlizzCon Store online sale has just begun! This sale is exclusive to BlizzCon attendees and Virtual Ticket buyers, and runs until the end of the show on November 9. The store is stocked with some epic never-before-seen loot, along with some of your favorite items from BlizzCons past. Supplies are limited, so if you’re not going to the show in person or haven’t yet purchased a Virtual Ticket, you might want to order now to get an early chance at some cool BlizzCon merchandise.

Unlike previous years, all orders will be shipped upon receipt—so the sooner you order, the faster you’ll get your BlizzCon swag. Keep in mind that orders are shipped from the United States, so international shipping rates may apply.

To access the sale, log in to the Blizzard Store using the Battle.net® account associated with your BlizzCon ticket or Virtual Ticket (physical ticket buyers can view this info in their Order History).

Check out just a few of this year’s new items below:

Be sure to come back in the coming weeks, as well, as additional items and surprises will be revealed as the sale continues!

Loot RNG
We realize that sometimes RNG can be frustrating. I’m just not sure how beneficial it would be for the game and its longevity, if all of a sudden RNG started being “smart” and avoiding giving out items that are either useless or redundant to players.

“Smart loot” is great for quests and lower level content, but messing around with the randomness of loot attribution in high-end content is, in my opinion, something that would only be detrimental to the game.

LFR already gives out loot that is based on spec, that’s as far as we are willing to go with “smart” RNG in such environments, also, that only happens because of the nature of that specific loot system.
From a design standpoint, it’s perfectly ok for loot not always being desirable. Rarity is exciting. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

This shows me how grossly out of touch with the average player who doesn't "just raid" they're becoming. I quit tanking LFR's when I got 4 of the exact same drop out of over 20 runs and that was considered "working as intended". The system is garbage and sadly those of us who quit over this crap, don't have an avenue to express that to them. I wish I was going to Blizzcon still, if only to find this guy and ask "Do you even play this game? Have you had to put up with your own system?"

This shows me how grossly out of touch with the average player who doesn't "just raid" they're becoming. I quit tanking LFR's when I got 4 of the exact same drop out of over 20 runs and that was considered "working as intended". The system is garbage and sadly those of us who quit over this crap, don't have an avenue to express that to them. I wish I was going to Blizzcon still, if only to find this guy and ask "Do you even play this game? Have you had to put up with your own system?"

I have always been bothered by Blizzard for not having an internal policy stating "Hey, if you're going to chime in as a player... not as an official developer standpoint, then log in without your tag", like other game communities.

Devai said that their music choices are very restricted because they're not sponsored anymore. As a result they don't have the right to use that music and therefore it will be copyrighted in some countries.

If you actually paid attention, you'd see the target health in the upper left of his raid frames.

And if you understood anything at all, you'd know that he's not often targeting the boss because he's a healer.

All I'm saying is, there's no reason to put out a kill video with a zoomed in UI and the edges blurred out this long after a kill and after other kill videos have been released. Paragon typically puts out good shit, I just didn't think this was as good.

The biggest problem with the loot system right now. Is coining a item you already have. That shouldnt happen and is crazy frustrating. For two reasons the 1st obvious. You already have it. But the 2nd, is it resets your luck timer on coins used. So u have a less likely chance to get loot on the next coin.

And if you understood anything at all, you'd know that he's not often targeting the boss because he's a healer.

All I'm saying is, there's no reason to put out a kill video with a zoomed in UI and the edges blurred out this long after a kill and after other kill videos have been released. Paragon typically puts out good shit, I just didn't think this was as good.

It wasn't going to be put out as a full video, if you listened to the guy he said he was just showing it on his live stream as many people requested to see it.

Thank you for the clear list of reasons why that would be even worse, you have convinced me, certainly.

- - - Updated - - -

Originally Posted by bgwilly31

The biggest problem with the loot system right now. Is coining a item you already have. That shouldnt happen and is crazy frustrating. For two reasons the 1st obvious. You already have it. But the 2nd, is it resets your luck timer on coins used. So u have a less likely chance to get loot on the next coin.

They should make it that if you win loot then you get to choose from the items that the boss can drop, same with the coin if you win.

And if you understood anything at all, you'd know that he's not often targeting the boss because he's a healer.

All I'm saying is, there's no reason to put out a kill video with a zoomed in UI and the edges blurred out this long after a kill and after other kill videos have been released. Paragon typically puts out good shit, I just didn't think this was as good.

The edges are blurred because the footage was 16:10. So when you fit it into a 16:9 format, there are black vertical bars at each side of the video. To minimize this rather unpleasant effect the editor chose to put a zoomed video in the background and blur it out.

no bliuzzcon items are never available in EU only US so blizzard make more money on the shipping charges which is why i never buy blizzcon items anyway il just wait for someone to put one on ebay.co.uk

that makes zero sense. blizzard doesn't make money on the shipping charges...the shipping companies do....fedex, ups, and usps get the money when you have something shipped. not the company you bought the item from.

- - - Updated - - -

Originally Posted by bgwilly31

The biggest problem with the loot system right now. Is coining a item you already have. That shouldnt happen and is crazy frustrating. For two reasons the 1st obvious. You already have it. But the 2nd, is it resets your luck timer on coins used. So u have a less likely chance to get loot on the next coin.

they've already said why they won't do this. You would get all your gear too fast and then stop playing till the next raid came out.

- - - Updated - - -

Originally Posted by xenogear3

It is really sad the game is so easy can be solo healed.

They definitely aren't one the best guilds in the world or anything...oh wait.

And if Blizzard made leveling challenging and demanding for veteran players, half of them ( more than half) would complain because they ´just want to get to 90´..

But that is besides the point, you are not reading it correctly. What Blizzard is saying is that the main reason questing was ´more difficult´ back in Vanilla is because most of us were clueless. I know it took me up until level 30 of playing my first character ( Moonkin) to realize that AGI and STR were not good for me, despite the fact they gave AP and Crit and a lot of my skills were based around melee ( back then, you had to melee to regain mana).

And yes, Blizzard does have the make the game playable and not frustrating for brand new players. As a veteran, who cares.. just get to 90.

They should just upload the video to somewhere where you can dl it. People who actually care to watch it, will download it. No copyright issues, sources mentioned everything. They should think about this stuff before uploading it.

Regardless, good to see them recovering from it. I wish he'd taken his webcam off for it though, kinda rude.

I love the fact that Car Bot animations is getting more spotlight now (the guys who made the Animation for the Storm of Heroes spotlighted here on MMO-Champ and the zergling shirt is their style)

They are really fun. You can find em on Youtube. As for the priest solo healing - i'm confused how he lasts mana-wise.

Originally Posted by tangers58

Thank you for the clear list of reasons why that would be even worse, you have convinced me, certainly.

- - - Updated - - -

They should make it that if you win loot then you get to choose from the items that the boss can drop, same with the coin if you win.

The game is built on longevity as pumping out new content is time consuming work.

i.e you will always be gated in one way or another - be it rarity of drops or what not.

Also, if your sole reasoning is to get loot - your point is self defeating to want that loot faster.
Due to as soon as you get that loot, your goal is complete.

If you play on the other hand because of the people, to progress in raids, see new content, etc. you won't have the same issue.

So it would be detrimental in the way of that people would tunnelvision the loot - get their fix - and be done with it.

If the goal is really all that you cheerish, you are shooting yourself in the foot.

- - - Updated - - -

Originally Posted by Shockeye

Rarity is exciting. Getting the same piece of loot, as your only piece of loot, 3 weeks running is depressing as all get-out. Getting loot you neither need nor want and thus causing the "bad luck run" mechanic to reset is not good. Getting no loot for 2 weeks, at all, wasting all your coins each week and in one night seeing a guildmate get loot, sometimes 2, off every boss while you yourself have been getting nothing week after week, is bad design.

I understand Blizzard's point of view, but something needs to be done about the loot RNG, at least in Flex.

The sheer amount of sources you can get loot from these days is abundant in every aspect - far greater then anything before.

You even have a mechanic increasing the drop rate in LFR over time - due to finite time on the raid dungeon in question.

In any difficulty you can use coins to get a chanse for extra loot - you can craft items, you can get 535 from Timeless isle with some effort in your part.

You can get 540 from Flexi. If anything - at any given stage essentialy BEFORE normal, the catch up mechanics are insanely forgiving - Beyond that, the normal/heroic gear progression is more forgiving now then it has been before.

And statistically speaking - getting no upgrade for several weeks - requires very specific situations not applicable to a majority of people to actually deem a problem at hand.. OR you are doing something wrong. I.e wanting a more lesiurely way of getting loot.

They should just upload the video to somewhere where you can dl it. People who actually care to watch it, will download it. No copyright issues, sources mentioned everything. They should think about this stuff before uploading it.